Controller for loom dobby fingers



June 30, 1953 R. G. TURNER 2,643,682

CONTROLLER FOR LOOM DOBBY FINGERS Filed May 10, 1952 FIG.4 2 H 5 5 W v25 "T? INVENTOR 37 RICHARD e. TURNER ATTORNEY Patented June 30, 1953UNITED; STATES PATENT OFFICE CONTROLLER Fort 23$; BOBBY FINGERS Issisnor W rce ter, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application May10, 1952, Serial No. 287,131

9 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in controllers for the harnesslifter hook controlling fingers of loom dobbies and it is the generalobject of the invention to provide a controller which will permit all ofthe fingers to be raised when it is desired to level the harnesses orpermit certain only of the fingers to be raised when it is desired toweave a simple pattern, such as a one up and one down plain weave.

Loom dobbies customarily employ fingers under control of a pattern chainfor determining the vertical position of harness lifting hooks withrespect to oppositely reciprocating knives. The fingers are customarilyarranged in pairs, one pair for each harness frame, one member of a paircontrolling the vertical position of the lower harness lifting hook andthe other finger of the pair determining the vertical position of the.top harness lifting hook for the corresponding har ness. It isoccasionally desirable to level the harness frames to bring all of thewarp. threads to a common plane, in which event it has been com-. monpractice in the past to provide means for lifting all Of the dobbyfingers so that al of the harness hooks will be given the sameindication to cause all of the harnesses to level.

When a new warp is being placed in a loom it is customary to operate theloom to produce a plain weave without regard to the kind of weave whichwill be produced after the first step of installing the new warp hasbeen completed and enough fabric has been woven to reach the takeup andcloth rolls. To weave the plain fabric the pattern cylinder usually hasfitted to it a short chain pegged for plain weaving, and after thepreliminary step has been completed the plain chain is replaced by theregular pattern chain for the desired weave.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide 'acontroller mounted per-v manently on the dobby in such manner that itcan be turned or otherwise moved in one direction to raise all thefingers for a leveling operation, or be moved in the opposite directionto effect plain weaving. As shownherein this result is accomplished byproviding opposite sides of a finger controller with wings one of whichhas a straight continuous edge to lift all the fingers and the other ofwhich is preferably notched so as to hold one finger of each pair inraised position and allow the other finger of the pair to be down. Thewings are so disposed that the controller can assume a position in whichneither wing will engage the fingers, thereby permitting the fingers tobe controlled by a pattern chain.

It is a further object of the. invention to provide the controller withmeans to cooperate with a yielding lock which willhold the controller inany one of three different positions, that is, with both wings inactive,with one wing active to raise all the fingers, or with the other wingactive to lift certain only of the fingers. The controller can be formedwith three fiat surfaces each of which can cooperate with a yieldinglock, such as a spring plunger, which will normally hold the controllerin anyone of the three positions to which it is moved but will yield topermit the controller to move to either-ofits other two positions.

Figs. eand 5 are detailed vertical sections online 44, 5.-5,respectively, Fig. 3,

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail vertical section on line 6-.6, Fig. 3,showing the manner in which the yielding lock cooperates withthecontroller.

Fig. '7 is a diagrammatic view showin the con troller in the position inwhich all of the fingers are raised, 7

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7 but showing the controller in theposition in which certain of the fingers are raised and others are down.7

Fig. 9 is a detailed side elevation of one of the open bearings in whichthe controller is mounted, being similar toapart of Fig. 1 but with the00111. troller removed to show the bearingfor it,

Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view showing the relation between the fingersof a doubleindex dobby and the controller when the latter is in posi-.tion to effect plain weavin and F 1. is a d a rammatic el a i of do bshowin upp r and lower l ft r ho ks and t eir respective knives and aharness jack.

Referri art c l y to e 1. and h dobby D has ck d front ates I and 2.especti e y. su o ed on a s an 3 moun ed any approved manner on the loomframe part of which is shown at 4. The dobby has a shaft 5 rotated. by achain 6 every secon p c r beat of the loom. :Secured to the right end ofshaft .5

as shown in Fig. l is a worm I which turns a worm wheel 8 fixed withrespect to a pattern chain cylinder 9. The worm 8 moves the worm wheelintermittently and in usual practice when double index indication isused the pattern chain will be given an angular motion every second pickor beat of the loom.

The pattern chain, not shown in the drawings, will ordinarily determinethe vertical positions of a set of fingers designated at F which arenormally in low position but can be raised to high position. Thesefingers are of two types one of which shown at H) has an upturned arm Hto efiect lifting of a bottom harness lifting hook 12. The other type offinger designated at 13 has a straight horizontal arm M to elevate awire or lifter i for a top hook i6, see Fig. 11. Fingers l0 alternatewith fingers l3 and a pair of fingers includes a finger of each type.

The dobby operates with oppositely reciprocating bottom and top knivesii and i8, respectively. The bottom knife ll moves first to the right,Fig. l, on a working stroke for one beat of the loom and then to theleft on an idle return stroke on the next beat of the loom. The topknife l8 moves in directions opposite to the directions of motion of thelower knife, and each knife has a two-pick cycle of operation. Eachlower hook and its corresponding upper hook are pivoted to a lever 19connected to a harness lifting jack 20 pivoted on a stationary cross rod21. Each pair of fingers controls the vertical positions of thecorresponding pair of hooks relative to the 4 three positions to whichit may be moved. The lower end 42 of each rod is adapted to engage oneor another of the surfaces 35-48 of the associated head 35. 7

Under normal conditions the controller will be in the normal idleposition shown in Figs. 1 and 2 with the wings 25 and 2'! beneath theunder sides or edges 46 of the dobby fingers and out of engagement withthe fingers. When the controller is thus placed all of the fingers canrest on the support bar 23 without engaging either knives l1 and i8, andthe pans of fingers and hooks control a single harness jack. The fingersare pivoted on a transverse rod 22 and their right ends as viewed inFig. 1 rest on a support bar 23 when the fingers are in their normaldown position.

The matter thu far described is of common construction and operatesin'usual manner.

In carrying the present invention into effect there is provided anelongated controller designated generally at C which has a lengthwisebody 24 formed on one side thereof with a wing 25 havinga straightuninterrupted edge 26 preferably substantially parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the controller. On the other side the body 24 has asecond wing 2'! formed with teeth 28 separated by slots 29 forming anotched edge 30, the teeth and slots providing high and low areas,respectively, of wing 2'1. Opposite ends of the controller have alignedgudgeons 3| coaxial with the axis of the controller and fitting intoopen bearings 32. One of these bearings is shown in Fig. 9. Thecontroller C and its axis extend transversely under all the fingers Fand the controller is mounted for angular motion in the bearings 32.Each gudgeon terminates in a handle 33 by which the controller may beturned manually in the bearings 32.

Each gudgeon is formed with a head 35 having three flat surfaces 36, 31and 38. Each side of the dobby is provided with a yielding lockdesignated generally at L and comprising a rod and surrounded by acompression spring M which lies between the'lower enlarged end 42 of therod and a small bearing 43 secured at 44 to the adjacent dobby frame. Anut 45 at the top of the rod it limits downward motion of the rod underaction of the spring 41; As contemplated herein there will be a yieldinglock at each side of the loom, but this may not be necessary if thespring 4| of a single yielding lock is sufficiently strong to hold thecontroller in any one of the wing, and the wings will be on oppositesides of a vertical plane containing the axis of the controller. Thiswill be the condition for normal weaving after the preliminary steps ofinstalling a new warp into'the loom have been completed and when thepattern chain to weave the desired pattern is on the cylinder 9. Underthese conditions each rod 40 will engage a surface 36 to hold thecontroller in its normal inactive position.

If it be desired to level all of the harnesses the controller will thenbe rocked in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2 byelevation of the handle 33, thus moving the controller to a secondposition as shown in Fig. '7, in which position the continuousuninterrupted edge 25 of wing 25 will lift all of the fingers F andlocate them in their high position. When in this position the springplunger rods 49 will engage the surfaces 31 to hold the controllerstable in the position shown in Fig. 7.

As already stated hereinbefore it is customary in the preliminary stepof installing a new warp in a loom to produce a simple weave, such as aplain one up and one down, regardless of the kind of weave which will beproduced when regular weaving begins. During this preliminary step thecontroller will be turned in a clockwise direction from the positionshown in Fig. 2 by depression of arm or handle 33 to elevate the wing 21so that the controller will occupy a third position such as shown inFig. 8. When in this position the teeth 28 will raise or locate certainonly of the dobby fingers in high position to permit the correspondingharness lifting hooks to be down in the paths of the dobby knives andthe remaining fingers will register with and be in the notches or slots29 and will remain in low position to hold their hooks in raisedposition out of the paths of the knives.

In a double index dobby with the fingers arranged as already describedthe effect of plain weaving can be produced by having the teeth 28 andslots 29 of a width corresponding to the lateral space occupied by twoadjacent fingers. The arrangement of five pairs of fingers and theassociated teeth 28 and slots or notches 29 for production in a plainweave is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 10. The fingers are shown inpairs I, II, III, IV and V, each pair corresponding to a pair of hooksand the associated harness jack. The fingers are shown of differentheights in Fig. 10 merely to distinguish the pairs from each other, butit will be understood that in actual practice all the fingers will be ofthe same height. Finger H] of pair I will be held up by tooth 28A andfinger l3 of pair I will be down in slot 29A. The bottom hook for fingerW of pair I will therefore be down in the path of the lower knife andwill be pulled out every other pick of the loom. The top hook for fingerl3 of pair I will always be down so that its hook will be out of thepath of the top knife. For this pair I, therefore, the bottom knife onlywill lift the harness frame corresponding to pair I, lifting it Ion onepick and allowing it. to be down on the next pick.

The fingers of thesecond pair II are reversed from those of the firstpair, finger ll! of pair II being down in slot 29A and finger l3 of pairII being up on tooth 283. The hook H! for this second pair II willtherefore always be out of the path of the lower knife and the upperhook will be in the path of the top knife. The harness framecorresponding to pair II will therefore be lifted on those beats of theloom when the harness frame for pair I will be down, and vice versa.This same relation will exist for the other pairs III, IV and V offingers, pairs III and V being in the same position as pair I, and pairIV being in the same position as pair II. The dobbywill therefore weavea plain one up and one down so long as the controller C is heldstationary in the third position thereof in which wing 27 controls thefingers.

After the preliminary step of installing a, new warp has been completedthe controller will then be returned to its normal position shown inFig. 2 and the pattern chain for the fabric to be woven will be appliedto the cylinder 9. The preliminary step is carried on without therequirement of a pattern chain on cylinder 9 and the chain which is toproduce the pattern of the fabric to be woven thereafter is the onlychain to be used.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the invention sets forth asimple form of controller for the fingers of a loom dobby, thecontroller being of such form that it can be either in an idle positionwhich will permit control of the fingers F by a pattern chain, can be inthe second position shown in Fig. 7 to elevate all of the fingers whenit is desired to level the harness, or can be in the third positionshown in Fig. 8 when it is desired to effect plain weaving without useof a pattern chain on the cylinder 9. It is to be understood of coursethat if a plain weave is to be produced after the preliminary step iscompleted the controller can then be left in the position shown in Fig.8 and a chain on cylinder 9 will not be necessary. It will also be seenthat the controller has fiat surfaces for cooperation with a yieldinglock which will hold the controller in any of the three positions towhich it can be moved. As contemplated hereinabove the controller hasbeen set forth as though it might be made as a single casting with allits parts integral and it is for this reason that the opening bearings32 are provided, but the invention is not necessarily limited to aone-piece controller.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of theinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, what isclaimed is:

I. In a loom dobby having a set of harness lifter hook controllingfingers each capable of being either in low or high position butnormally in low position, a controller under the fingers mounted on thedobby for angular movement about an axis transverse of and below saidfingers, said controller having a wing effective when the controller isturned in one direction around said axis to insure location of all ofsaid fingers in high position and said controller having a second wingeffective when the controller is turned in the opposite direction aroundsaid axis to locate certain only of said fingers in high position.

2. The dobby set forth in claim 1 wherein the first wing has a straightuninterrupted edge to engage all the fingers and wherein the second winghas teeth to engage said certain only of the fingers :separated by slotsregistering with the remainder of theifingers. 1

3'. In a loom dobby having a'set of harness lifter hook controllingfingers each capable of being either in low or'high position butnormally in low position, a controller under the fingers rockable aboutan axis transverse of and below said fingers, said controller when innormal position having wings on opposite sides of a vertical plane containing said axis. and the controller when in normal positionlocatingsaid wings out of engagement with said fingers, the controller whenturned in one direction about said axis from normal position thereofcausing engagement between one of said wings and all of said fingers,said one wing being thereby effective to hold all the fingers in highposition, and said controller when rocked in the opposite directionabout said axis from the normal position thereof moving the other winginto controlling position with respect to the fingers and said otherwing being thereby effective to hold certain only of the fingers in highposition.

4. In a loom dobby as set forth in claim 3 wherein said other wing hashigh areas alternating with low areas and the high areas are effectivewhen the controller is rocked in said opposite direction to hold saidcertain only of the fingers in high position while the low areas thereofregister with other of said fingers and are ineffective to raise saidother fingers.

5. In a loom dobby having a set of harness lifter hook controllingfingers each capable of being either in low or high position butnormally in low position, a controller for the fingers extending underthe latter and rockable about an axis transverse of and below thefingers, said controller having wings extending transversely of thefingers on opposite sides of a vertical plane containing said axis andout of engagement with the fingers when the controller is in oneposition, one of said wings effective when the controller is turned inone direction about said axis to a secend position to maintain all ofthe fingers in high position and the other wing effective when thecontroller is turned in the opposite direction to a third position tomaintain certain only of said fingers in high position.

6. The dobby set forth in claim 5 wherein the controller is providedwith a head having fiat surfaces, one for each of said positions of thecontroller, and resilient lock means on the dobby to engage said fiatsurfaces one at a time to hold the controller yieldingly in any of thethree positions to which the controller can move.

7. In a controller for a set of harness lifter hook controlling fingers'of a loom dobby having a bearing at each side of the set, saidcontroller comprising an elongated body having coaxial gudgeons at theends thereof for mounting the controller for rotation in said bearings,a wing on one side of said body having an uninterrupted edge forengagement with all of said fingers, and a second wing on the oppositeside of said body provided with slots alternating with finger engagingteeth.

8. The controller set forth in claim 7 wherein at least one of saidgudgeons is provided with a head having a plurality of flat surfaces forcooperation with a yielding lock.

9. In a loom dobby having a set of harness lifter hook controllingfingers each capable of being either in low or high position butnormally in low position, said fingers arranged in pairs and each paircontrolling a top and a bottom lifter hook for a harness frame, acontroller under the fingers rockable about an axis transverse of theset of fingers, said controller including a wing normally out ofengagement with the fingers and having teeth of a width corresponding tothe width of a pair of fingers alternating with slots each of a widthsubstantially equal to the width of a tooth, the fingers of a pairregistering one with a tooth and the other with a slot adjacent to thetooth, adjacent fingers of two adjacent pairs of fingers registeringwith a slot and the other fingers of 8 the adjacent pairs registeringone with a tooth on one side of the slot and the other with a tooth onthe other side of the slot, the controller when rocked around said axiscausing the teeth to raise one finger of each pair to high position andcausing the other finger of each pair to occupy a slot and remain in lowposition.

RICHARD G. TURNER.

No references cited.

